After two successful and thoroughly enjoyable RAC Championship rallies in Wales, MMS have entered their AE86 into the Pirelli Carlisle Rally. Driver Will Midgley is now parterned by Graham Wride and are hoping to cement the Championship standing with another solid performance up in the fantastic Kielder Forest stages.

The car has had to have a recent engine change, but has new suspension and is hopefully going to be very competitive. Will has driven these stages before during the 2011 Roger Albert Clark, and is looking forward to returning.

Refreshingly there are not 1, 2 but 3 Toyota’s competing in the event. John Midgley makes a welcome return in the Corolla TE71, with Navigator John Pullan in the hot seat. Also competing is Ben Mellors in the very nice and very competitive Toyota Celica RA45.

The first of the 111 Cars are off Saturday morning with a Ceremonial Start in Carlisle City Centre at 9:00, with the first car due to finish at Kielder at 15:30 (approx).

On the back of the successful run in the Red Kite Stages coupled with the opportunity to race on some of the most famous rally stages in the world, MMS have entered their Toyota Corolla AE86 with Driver William Midgley reunited with Navigator Jonathan Driver.

The car is ready and entry accepted so Pace Notes due tomorrow and let the studying begin. Both Driver and Navigator are excited about racing together again and taking on the challenge of stages such as Pikes Peak, Hafren and Sweet Lamb.

Midgley Motor Sport ventured into new territory (in recent times at least) to compete in Wales in the Red Kite Rally, being the 1st round of the 2015 RAC Championship.

Driver Will Midgley and Navigator Geoff Maybank suffered several scares and near misses in the treacherous snow and icy conditions, however endured and from a starting position of 73, made up 30 places to finish 43rd overall and won class BE1.

This was a fantastic achievement on first attempt at this rally and again considering conditions. Below is a fantastic picture by Thibault Lefebvre showing the ‘drifting’ on icy corners – look at where both driver and navigator are looking!

Midgley Motor Sport entered the 2014 Tour of Hamsterley last weekend, and finished a very creditable 2nd in class and 10th overall. The rally saw Will Midgley and Jonathan Driver reunited in the Toyota Corolla AE86 after their last event being the RAC Rally in November 2012. Will won the class in 2013 with Paul Slingsby in the Navigators seat.

The rally itself had 99 entries however the MMS car was the only Toyota and is building a fan club being unique, and a replica of the class and championship winning car that John Midgley drove successfully in the 1980’s. Stages 1 to 3 were quick, however, the car was too high geared which lost time on the starts and on tight corners, however, the team persevered and managed to complete the 50 miles of what became extremely rough forest tracks after 99 cars, including high powered WRC 4×4 cars had been round twice.

There was also drama at the last stage at Raby Castle when the car wouldn’t start and had to be bump started to get to the start line, then driven carefully back to the final Time Control at the Rally Headquarters at the National Railway Museum in Shildon. All part and parcel of rallying and both driver and navigator were relieved to make the finish line!

Big thanks to Brendan for helping prepare the car and provide invaluable service during the event (and snoring all night!)

After a delayed start due to workload and the fitting of a brand new engine into the Toyota Corolla AE86, we are back in action again starting with the 2014 Tour of Hamsterley on the 26th April. Will is defending the class after winning with Navigator Paul Slingsby in 2013, but this year is back with Jonathan Driver after a years absence. Their last outing together being the class win in their first attempt at the RAC Rally in 2012.

The car is remarkably the only Toyota to date out of 99 other entries, and hopefully the fan club will continue to grow as Will and Jonathan are hoping to compete in further RAC Championship events this year. Watch this space for further news.